Malibu Rotary Club Surfwriter

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1 The Award Winning Malibu Rotary Club Surfwriter February 11, 2015 Official Newsletter of the Rotary Club of Malibu Malibu Rotary Club President Margo Neal Edited by Dr. John W. Elman Pictures by Dr. John W. Elman In This Issue (click underlined topics for web link when connected to the Internet) Last Week: Dustin Plunkett and Donna Brown Explain How You Can Volunteer To Help at the 2015 Special Olympics World Games in Los Angeles Next Malibu Rotary Club meeting Feb 18, Josh Voorhees will explain how he was able to get scholarship to Pepperdine from the Rotary Club of Warren, New Jersey. Meeting is in Pepperdine University Upper Drescher Campus Room LC 152 with fellowship at 11:30 a.m. and meeting starting at Noon Malibu Rotary Club Supports RainCatcher. Check Calendar on Malibu Rotary website Rotary International Website: Rotary District 5280 Website: RI President ( ) Gary CK Huang

2 Rotary District 5280 Governor ( ): Elsa Gilham News of 2015 Special Olympics and Volunteer Opportunities For Locals to be Presented at Feb 11 Malibu Rotary club meeting Donna Brown is Vice President of Volunteers and Dustin Plunkett is Games Associate & Uniforms Coordinator as well Volunteer Workforce Manager for the Special Olympics games being staged in Los Angeles July 25 - August 2, Above them is the logo for the Special Olympic, arms raised in victory. Dustin showed a couple of short vides and also talked about the history of Special Olympics, and how his involvement had changed his life. Donna talked about the need for volunteers, including people from Malibu, to help the event run smoothly

3 The Special Olympics will be the largest sports and humanitarian event anywhere in the world in 2015, and the single biggest event in Los Angeles since the 1984 Olympic Games. The 2015 Special Olympics World Games, with the unparalleled spirit, enthusiasm, teamwork, joy and displays of courage and skill that are hallmarks of all Special Olympics events, will feature 25 Olympic-style sports in venues throughout the Los Angeles region. The Opening Ceremony, to be held July 25, 2015 in the historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, site of the 1932 and 1984 Olympic Games, is expected to attract 80,000 spectators. On April 30, 2014, LA2015 and ESPN announced a global programming deal that will see ESPN bring coverage of World Games to millions of fans around the world. The 2015 Games will feature competitions in aquatics, gymnastics, track and field, basketball, football (soccer) and many other summer sports involving 7,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities from around the world. The most recent World Summer Games were in Athens, Greece in The 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games could bring as many as a half-million people to the greater Los Angeles area from 25 July to 2 August The Special Olympics World Summer Games will return to the United States after 16 years, having last been held in the United States in 1999 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Justin explained the difference between the regular Olympic games that elite athletes participate in, and two other world Olympics in which disabled people participate. The Paralympic Games is a major international multi-sport event, involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities. The Paralympic Games are organized in parallel with the Olympic Games, while the IOCrecognized Special Olympics World Games include athletes with intellectual disabilities, and the Deaflympics include deaf athletes Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of Special Olympics, was a pioneer in the worldwide struggle for rights and acceptance for people with intellectual disabilities. Eunice Kennedy Shriver had a sister, Rosemary, who had an intellectual disability. She and Rosemary grew up playing sports together and with their family. The sisters swam, they sailed, they skiied, they played football together. But in those days, there were limited programs and options for someone like Rosemary. Eunice Kennedy Shriver went on to become an athlete in college. She began to see that sports could be a common ground to unite people from all walks of life. Eunice Kennedy Shriver believed that if people with intellectual disabilities were given the same opportunities and experiences as everyone else, they could accomplish far more than anyone ever

4 thought possible. She put that vision into action in 1962 by inviting young people with intellectual disabilities to a summer day camp she hosted in her backyard. She called it "Camp Shriver." The goal was to explore the children's skills in a variety of sports and physical activities. The idea behind that first Camp Shriver began to grow. In July 1968, the first International Special Olympics Games were held in Chicago, Illinois, USA. In her remarks at the Opening Ceremony, she said the inaugural Chicago Special Olympics prove "a very fundamental fact -- that children with intellectual disabilities can be exceptional athletes and that "through sports they can realize their potential for growth. She pledged that this new organization, Special Olympics, would offer people with intellectual disabilities everywhere the chance to play, the chance to compete and the chance to grow. What began as one woman's vision evolved into Special Olympics International -- a global movement that today serves more than 4 million people with intellectual disabilities in more than 170 countries. It is not just about the sports. At more than 1.4 million free health examinations in more than 120 countries, the Special Olympics Healthy Athletes program offers health services and information to athletes in dire need. In the process, Special Olympics has become the largest global public health organization dedicated to serving people with intellectual disabilities. That record of success and benefit led United States businessman and philanthropist Tom Golisano to commit $12 million to expand Special Olympics health-related services and launch a new Healthy Communities initiative in The donation was announced by former U.S. President Bill Clinton at the 2012 Clinton Global Initiative event in New York City, USA. Dustin had a personal story to tell about how the Special Olympics literally saved his life. Along with the other Special Olympics athletes Dustin was given a health screening exam. Prior to his Special Olympics health screening Dustin knew he had bad teeth. What his Special Olympics health screening determined, however, was that it wasn t just bad teeth, he had gum cancer. The early detection of this fatal disease allowed Dustin to get surgical treatment and prolonged his life.

5 The health screenings of the athletes by the Special Olympics volunteer healthcare professionals turn up all sorts of health problems the athletes didn t know they had. 65% of the athletes come in wearing the wrong shoe size. Their toes may be malpositioned because of this. For the 2015 Special Olympics games in Los Angeles the athletes will by staying in dormitories at UCLA and USC. Just as with the regular Olympics the Special Olympics will feature a torch lighting at the opening ceremony. Barack and Michelle Obama are the honorary chairs of the event. The Torch will be lit in Maine, and travel through each of the 50 continental United States before being handed off to runners in Los Angeles. Volunteers and supporters are also essential to make the World Games a success. Donna Brown, who lives in Atlanta Georgia, and is Vice President of Volunteers for the 2015 Special Olympics in Los Angeles, told us that there are many ways to volunteer to help out at the games. They need games volunteers, medical volunteers, and if you have some special skills maybe they can use you for your special skill. In general there are 5 days of duties from July 25 - August 2, 2015, each with 5 hour shifts. Another way to help is just to go to some of the games as a spectator and cheer on the athletes. To apply to be one of the 30,000 volunteers for the World Games please visit: To help raise funds to cover costs associated with the visiting athletes, please visit support.la2015.org. Other News and Guests from Last Malibu Rotary Club Meeting Besides talking briefly about her recent trip with other Rotarians from district 5280 on a humanitarian trip to Guatemala (which will be the topic of the Malibu Rotary Club March 18 meeting) Malibu Rotary Club President Margo Neal talked about the Rotary District Go To End Polio Day at Griffith Park on March 21. It is a 5 K / 10 K Run or Walk and Family Festival with the Start and Finish Line at Griffith Park at Chrystal Springs. The 10 K Run starts at 9:00 a.m and 5 K walk at 10:00 a.m., which is also when the Family Fun Festival Starts there is also a 1 mile fun walk and lunch by IN-N-Out Burger starting at 11:30 a.m..and a raffle. All proceeds will go to END POLIO NOW, a humanitarian program of Rotary International to eradicate polio worldwide. Register on line at Bill Wishard went to the Pre-PETS seminar on Saturday Jan 31, representing Malibu Rotary Club in place of David Zielski. President Elect David Zielski will be going to PETS. Guests at the last Malibu Rotary Club

6 Guests at the Malibu Rotary Club meeting Feb 11 included Tiffany Venalde of AssistedHomeLiviing.com. as well as Richard and Anthony Angelini of the Angelini Trading company, with offices in Santa Monica and Guardia Sanfromondi, Benevento, Italia and motto of We Bring Italy to the World. ; Christina Hackett of the Animal Foundation of America: and two Pepperdine students, who are Psi Upsilon fraternity brothers (guests of Bill Wishard), Hunter Havins, who is vice president of the psi Upsilon Lambda Sigma Chapter and its Service Chair, Director of Pepperdine Songfest Delta Psi Theat Group and one of the judges at the Malibu Rotary Club Middle and High Singing Competition and Josh Voorhees who will be speaking at the Malibu Rotary Club meeting on February 18 on how he received the scholarshop to attend Pepperdine University from the Rotary Club of Warren New Jersey. Malibu Rotary Club Supports RainCatcher Clean drinking water is a problem affecting millions of people around the world. A Malibu company, RainCatcher, is trying to solve the problem in an efficient manner. Much of their work has been in Africa. The Malibu Rotary Club along with the Rotary Clubs of Beverly Hills, CA USA and the Rotary Club of Entebbe, Uganda has applied for a Rotary Foundation Grant to assist Raincatcher. There are several videos available on You Tube that show the amazing things Raincatcher is doing bringing clean drinking water to places in Uganda and Kenya where there was previously no clean drinking water. David Zielski, Executive Director of Raincatcher, makes regular trips to Uganda and Kenya to do Raincatcher installations and maintenance. In February The latest video showing what David and the Raincatcher people are doing in Africa was shown at the Malibu Rotary Club meeting on August 20. A link to the video is now on the Maliburotary.org website. The direct link to the video is at:

7 Calendar (for details on these programs see maliburotary.org) Feb 18, Josh Voorhees will explain how he was able to get scholarship to Pepperdine from the Rotary Club of Warren, New Jersey. Meeting is in Pepperdine University Upper Drescher Campus Room LC 152 with fellowship at 11:30 a.m. and meeting starting at Noon Sade Obanwo Feb 25, 2015 Science Care whole body donor program Sade Obanwo is Manager of Community Relations for Science Care. The Science Care whole body donor program links those that wish to leave a lasting legacy through medical research with the researchers and educators that need human tissue to do their important work. Each donor not only gives of him or herself but gives hope to future generations. Hope for new disease treatment options, better patient outcomes and advanced surgical procedures to improve the future for all of us. Mar 11, 2015 Hung Le In God s Perfect Time (meeting in Fireside Room, Pepperdine main campus) Hung Le is Pepperdine University's Registrar. Separated from his family at the age of 11, Hung recounts the stories of his coming to America as a refugee from war-torn Vietnam, without his family, and finding the power of God s faithfulness through trials and triumphs. This is the 4th in Malibu Rotary Club's Exclusive Series of Consequences of Vietnam War.

8 March Report by Margo on Rotary District Humanitarian Trip to Guatemala In Room LC 152 of Pepperdine University Drescher Campus Malibu Rotary Club President Mago Neal talks about her recent trip with 84 Rotarians and friends as they went on Humanitarian trip to Guatemala. The itinerary was changed a bit when a volcano erupted near their hotel. Fellowship at 11:30 a.m. and meeting at Noon.